Analysis of Site Liquefaction Using Earthquake Records
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 120, Issue 6
Abstract
The surface and downhole accelerations, and pore‐water pressures recorded during the 1987 earthquakes at a site in the Imperial Wildlife Management Area (Imperial County, Calif.) are used to obtain direct estimates of the average seismic shear stress‐strain and effective stress‐path histories. These histories provide valuable insight into the site seismic behavior during liquefaction and associated loss of soil stiffness. As the pore pressure increases due to seismic excitation, site stiffness is found to gradually decrease. During the high‐pore‐pressure phase, site behavior is characterized by cycles of large shear strain and very small shear stress. At these large strains, evidence of hardening response, possibly due to a dilative‐type soil behavior, is observed. The results of this study demonstrate that acceleration and pore pressure histories recorded by downhole arrays represent a valuable direct source of information on site response during seismic excitation.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Abdel‐Ghaffar, A. M., and Scott, R. F. (1978). “Investigation of the dynamic characteristics of an earth dam.” Rep. No. EERL 78‐02, Earthquake Engineering Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
2.
Abdel‐Ghaffar, A. M., and Scott, R. F. (1979). “Shear moduli and damping factors of earth dam.” J. Geotech. Engrg. Div., ASCE, 105(12), 1405–1426.
3.
Arulmoli, K., Muraleetharan, K. K., Hossain, M. M., and Fruth, L. S. (1992). “Verification of liquefaction analyses by centrifuge studies laboratory testing program soil data report.” The Earth Technology Corp., Long Beach, Calif.
4.
Baziar, M. H., and Dobry, R. (1991). “Liquefaction ground deformation predicted from laboratory tests.” Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Recent Adv. in Geotech. Earthquake Engrg. and Soil Dyn., 451–458.
5.
Bennett, M. J., McLaughlin, P. V., Sarmiento, J. S., and Youd, T. L. (1984). “Geotechnical investigation of liquefaction sites, Imperial Valley, California.” Open‐file Rep. 84‐252, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.
6.
Chang, C.‐Y., Mok, C. M., Power, M. S., and Tang, Y. K. (1991). “Analysis of ground response data at lotung large‐scale soil‐structure interaction experiment site.” Rep. No. NP‐7306‐SL, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, Calif.
7.
Dobry, R., Ladd, R. S., Yokel, F. Y., Chung, R. M., and Powell, D. (1982). “Prediction of pore water pressure buildup and liquefaction of sands during earthquakes by the cyclic strain method.” Nat. Bureau of Standards Build. Sci. Ser., 138, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
8.
Dobry, R., Elgamal, A.‐W., Baziar, M., and Vucetic, M. (1989). “Pore pressure and acceleration response of Wildlife Site during the 1987 earthquake.” 2nd U. S.‐Japan Workshop on Soil Liquefaction, T. D. O'Rourke, and M. Hamada, eds. NCEER Report No. 89‐0032, Buffalo, N.Y., 145–160.
9.
Elgamal, A.‐W., and Zeghal, M. (1992). “Analysis of Wildlife Site liquefaction during the 1987 Superstition Hills earthquake.” Proc., 4th U.S.‐Japan Workshop on Earthquake Resistant Des. of Lifeline Fac. and Countermeasures against Soil Liquefaction (Rep. No. NCEER‐92‐0019), M. Hamada and T. O'Rourke, eds., National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, N.Y., 87–96.
10.
Haag, E. D. (1985). “Laboratory investigation of static and dynamic properties of sandy soils subjected to the 1981 Westmorland earthquake.” Rep. GR85‐11, Geotechnical Engineering Center, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Tex.
11.
Holzer, T. L., Youd, T. L., and Hanks, T. C. (1989). “Dynamics of liquefaction during the 1987 Superstition Hills, California, earthquake.” Science, 244, 56–59.
12.
Hushmand, B., Scott, R. F., and Crouse, C. B. (1991). “In situ calibration of USGS piezometer installations.” Recent advances in instrumentation data acquisition and testing in soil dynamics: Geotech. Spec. Pub. No. 29, S. K. Bhatia G. W., and Blaney, eds., ASCE, New York, N.Y.
13.
Hushmand, B., Scott, R. F., and Crouse, C. B. (1992). “In‐place calibration of USGS transducers at Wildlife liquefaction site, California USA.” Proc., 10th World Conf. on Earthquake Engrg., A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 3, 1263–1268.
14.
National Research Council. (1985). Liquefaction of soils during earthquakes. National Research Council Committee on Earthquake Engineering, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
15.
Seed, R. B., Dickenson, S. E., Riemer, M. F., Bray, J. D., Sitar, N., Mitchell, J. K., Idriss, I. M., Kayen, R. E., Kropp, A., Hander, L. F., Jr., and Power, M. S. (1990). “Preliminary report on the principal geotechnical aspects of the October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta earthquake.” Rep. No. UCB/EERC‐90/05, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Calif.
16.
Trifunac, M. D., and Lee, V. (1973). “Routine computer processing of strong‐motion accelerograms.” Rep. EERL 73‐03, Earthquake Engineering Research Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
17.
Vucetic, M. (1986). “Pore pressure buildup and liquefaction at level sandy sites during earthquakes,” PhD thesis, Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst.,Troy, N.Y.
18.
Vucetic, M., and Dobry, R. (1988). “Cyclic triaxial strain‐controlled testing of liquefiable sands.” ASTM Spec. Tech. Publ. 977, ASTM, Philadelphia, Pa., 475–485.
19.
Youd, T. L., and Wieczorek, G. F. (1984). “Liquefaction during 1981 and previous earthquakes near Westmorland California.” USGS Open‐file Rep. 84‐680. U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C.
20.
Youd, T. L., and Holzer, T. L. (1994). “Piezometer performance at the Wildlife liquefaction site, California.” J. Geotech. Engrg., ASCE, 120(6), 975–995.
21.
Zeghal, M., and Elgamal, A.‐W. (1993). “Lotung Site: downhole seismic data analyses.” Civ. and Envir. Engrg. Dept., Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, N.Y.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 120 • Issue 6 • June 1994
Pages: 996 - 1017
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 23, 1993
Published online: Jun 1, 1994
Published in print: Jun 1994
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.